Flack Pack
Flack Pack is the official public relations podcast of Washington, D.C., focused on issues, techniques, news, and topics of interest to flacks everywhere, especially in the Swamp!
Episodes
It's December and if you're a college student that means prepping for finals and dreaming about winter break.
If you're not a college student, then you're probably longing for those days when you could leave it all behind, hop a plane or a train, and head home for three or four weeks of sinking into a couch at your parent's house, swaddled in the biggest blanket you can find. Those were the days!
We've got students on our mind this...
It's Thanksgiving week, so naturally we're talking about turkeys, the kind that visit the White House each year looking to avoid an untimely end as someone's holiday feast.
The National Turkey Presentation is a PR bonanza for the turkey industry, with reporters lining up in the Rose Garden to report on the annual pardoning ceremony.
Abraham Lincoln spared the first bird, but his successors presumably ate the annual presidential gif...
The midterm elections are over and you're probably relieved you'll no longer have to suffer through a barrage of nasty television and radio ads from candidates blasting their opponents.
It's true the political fights during prime-time TV have ended, but if you do PR, the fun is just beginning.
That's because we're surrounded by politics and as hard as you might try, you, your organizations or your clients may soon find yourselves s...
This week, we want to know how any public relations firm could still be working with the Saudi government after reports that people on its payroll murdered and dismembered a journalist critical of its policies at home?
The Flack Pack discusses a Washington Post report listing PR firms that government documents show still work for Saudi Arabia and its agents following the death of Jamal Khashoggi.
And we ask what PR pros should do i...
The Flack Pack honors the Dia de los Muertos with a conversation about Hispanic and Latino public relations. If you don't speak Spanish, this topic can be as scary as a Trump tweet, but much easier to overcome with the right advice.
Our guests this week are experts in multi-cultural public relations. Christina Borrego is the Public Relations Director at Riester in Phoenix. Jessica Davila-Burnett is the Principal at JDB Public Relat...
It's about time public relations people had a holiday to call their own. National Publicist Day is today, October 30th. It's a day to celebrate what we do as publicists, flacks, communicators, and practitioners. Whatever you call yourself, the Day's founder, Jordanna Stephen says you should take a moment to recognize the hard work you and your colleagues do every day on behalf of clients and organizations.
Today marks th...
Even if you practice PR in an industry where technology is slow to arrive, the day will come when you'll have to face the tech monster. Good or bad, society's reliance on the Internet of Things is only going to grow.
Every day, something new is connecting to the net, and whether we like it or not, we, as public relations professionals, need to be ready to explain that to our audiences.
Anne Potts is Managing Director and Executive ...
Is life working in a PR agency as glamorous as Hollywood portrays it on television and in movies? The truth is, working in an agency can be exciting, but it also can be exhausting, and not for every PR soul.
This week, we consider the ups and downs of PR agency life with Dr. Gina Luttrell, a PR and Social Media Professor at Syracuse University, and co-author of a new book, The PR Agency Handbook.
We'll explore the agency-client rel...
What if you could tell a journalist how your story will play on his or her news website? Imagine being able to predict social media engagement in a news pitch. Wouldn't it be cool if you could shape your story to make it irresistible for newsroom gatekeepers who are increasingly focused on audience data and their own analytics?
Erik Huddleston is rapidly becoming the PR pro's best friend. His team at TrendKite in Austin, Texas thin...
"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!"
Forty years ago, holograms were the stuff of science fiction movies, like Star Wars. Princess Leia's desperate call for an old Jedi Knight's assistance is legendary, and as it turns out, quite prophetic. That's because this week, PR pros at PRSA's International Conference in Austin, Texas got to see the industry's first holographic news release.
Cathy Hackl is a PR futurist, and a form...
PRSA keeps Austin weird this weekend, as thousands of PR pros convene for a communications convergence in Texas. The Flack Pack previews PRSA's 2018 International Conference with Amelia Folkes, President-elect of Austin's PRSA Chapter.
Amelia talks about the work it takes to put on a good conference, the fun attendees can expect, and a few things weirdly Austin – sombreros, a yeti, and breakfast tacos.
If you're going to the confer...
Credit creativity and a team committed to good storytelling for the social media content coming out of Mount Vernon, the home of America's first Commander in Chief, George Washington.
This week, Flack Pack host Summer Johnson interviews Rebecca Aloisi, Vice President for Marketing at Mount Vernon, about her team's approach to marketing the historic home of POTUS 1.
When was the last time you placed a guest column on the digital opinion page of your local newspaper? You probably pitch pieces every week, but how often do your efforts lead to publication? Unfortunately, the answer is probably rarely.
Joanna Allhands, digital opinion page editor for the Arizona Republic, says audience preferences are the reason it's getting more difficult to publish guest columns and submitted opinions online.
Gone are the days when a PR shop could write a news release, create a photo opportunity, call a news conference, and get every reporter in town to cover the story. Equally rare is the moment when a journalist says yes to a story pitch.
The news business has changed. Journalists are interested in fewer and fewer stories. Meanwhile, the news and information people want and maybe even ...
Is PR suffering at the hands of the White House communications operation? We explore the issue this week.
We explore a poll done by USC's Center for Public Relations that asked PR pros whether they thought the actions of the White House comms shop were harming their own credibility as public relations advisors.
The survey presented a popular result, but, based on the people r...
On the Labor Day special edition of Flack Pack, we're examining the job outlook for flacks. Anthony D'Angelo, APR, Fellow PRSA, 2018 Chair of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), talks about the jobs forecast for PR pros, breaks down the state of each industry sector, and reveals the job he would apply for if he were a college graduate today.
Learn more about Anthony D'Angelo here.
Wondering why you're not getting returns on your social media efforts? You may need to try harder...or maybe you need to be more patient.
Hailley Griffis is the PR Manager at Buffer (and host of The Science of Social Media podcast!), a social media scheduling tool. That basically means she knows all the ins-and-outs about the ever-changing social media landscape.
If your social media results aren't what you think they should be, no...
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